Marin Voice: Others should follow CVS

Sophia Eliopoulos heads into a CVS on Wednesday, Feb. 5, 2014, in San Rafael, Calif. CVS announces it will ban sales of cigarettes at its stores. Eliopoulos said the move is a good idea. (IJ photo/Frankie Frost)

Something is seriously wrong when you are pushing tobacco products to make your customers sick and pushing smoking cessation products to keep them alive and selling them medications to treat diseases caused by cigarette smoking.

Tobacco use is responsible for over 480,000 deaths in the U.S. yearly.

When a pharmacy sells cigarettes, it sells death.

Each cigarette contains over 400 Class-A carcinogens, and nicotine, which is more addictive than heroin. Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer and other cancers, emphysema, heart disease, strokes and heart attacks. The 2014 "U.S. Surgeon General's Report on Smoking" also addressed smoking's role in diabetes, arthritis, and erectile dysfunction.

The American Pharmacists Association, the American Medical Association and other health care groups have condemned the sale of tobacco at pharmacies.

CVS' leadership is a bold and giant move to protecting Americans' health.

We still must advocate for legislation that bans tobacco sales at U.S. pharmacies.

Through concerted action, we will work together to achieve the important public health goal of eliminating tobacco sales from all pharmacies. Pharmacies are health care providers and should uphold their ethical code of protecting patients' health and welfare.

We call on Walgreen's, Rite Aid, and other pharmacies to follow CVS' leadership.

Kudos to CVS for taking its bold stand.

Frederick S. Mayer is president of the Pharmacy Planning Service, Inc. in San Rafael and past president of California Public Health Association. He owned and operated a pharmacy in Sausailito and banned tobacco sales from his store in the early 1970s. Anh Lê is a public health advocate in the Bay Area.